Road Trip

Yesterday the roomies and I piled most of our apartment into the trunk of Nadia's Civic (which I have since dubbed "The Silver Bullet" -- Nadia drives fast), and headed down the Five. Destination: The OC and Nadia's cousin's wedding celebration.

We hit the greater L.A. Area in almost no time (seriously, I think it might have taken longer to fly down) and had a chance to visit the world's cutest baby before heading to what I now consider our practice event. The main celebration isn't until tonight, but last night we went to a warm up dinner at one of Nadia's auntie's houses.

Nadia failed to fill us in on some key Indian-family event strategies before we hit this dinner. For instance, it's all about the side hugs. Not so much the handshakes and no full-frontal hugging -- the side hug, one arm around the shoulders, is the way to go.

More important than hugging technique, Anita and I learned (the hard way) that these nights are marathons, not a sprints. You must pace yourself. Yes there is crazy good homemade Indian food everywhere, but it is just a snack and you have to make it through dinner, which will be served around eleven. Don't eat three samosas, no matter how good they are. Yes, the fried cheese is amazing, but stop yourself. It's only nine and there is more food coming. Soon you will be in pain and you definitely won't fit into your sari tomorrow.

I ate so much last night that I still can't really move. Still, I consider myself lucky to have figured out the strategy before the intensity of tonight's blow out. We're all camped out on the couch watching the England vs. Portugal penalty kicks, which doesn't require too much movement, just screaming, but I'm a little terrified about the fact that Nadia's mom is already putting more food on the table. It smells amazing... Something involving fried potato and roti. I know I won't be able to not eat it.